Moving from Boston to Anywhere Else - Suggestions?

SeeYouLaterBoston wrote:

25 years old, looking to move from Boston to a warmer area of the country. Boston is obviously a horrendous city for anyone to live (high cost of living, 60% college students, awful traffic, ridiculous hometown "culture", etc.), so I'm looking for something that's pretty much the polar opposite of here.

Looking to move to a spot with the following qualities:

-Warm at least most of the year

-Affordable cost of living

-Decent running community (road races, places to run, etc.).

I work remotely full-time so I can go anywhere without worrying about landing a new job. Any suggestions?

I hear South Boston is nice. Must be warmer there as are the people.

Xiamen, China

Columbus

Lots of beer, good arts, low traffic, lots of running paths and tracks

Hahahaha.

Ohio.

if you want a decent running community in terms of races, then you'll want to look into CA (specifically within 100 miles of SF). That will be your biggest center of racing opportunities year round outside of the Boston/east coast area. Lots of areas to run if you pick the right place.

Currently in a big drought, so it'll be nice and hot and dry for you too! Depending on where you look you can get a decent cost of living (hint, it's not SF).

Tallahassee FL. Very reasonable cost of living, fantastic running community, lots of trails and good road running as well. Hilly downtown & to the north, flat to the south so you have your choice. Shady large trees, we do a get seasons here unlike the rest of FL. Summers are pretty beastly but you adjust and just go out early in the morning. ZAP Fitness does their winter training here. This is a runner's paradise. Lots of friendly people :) Come here!!

oh please wrote:

If I had the freedom to go where I wanted, I'd try out the St George, Utah area. Maybe I'd hate it by time all was said and done, however the three times I've been there I liked it and it's a couple hours away from tons of cool outdoor adventures.

That's my favorite region of the country scenery-wise, even though I've never been. Might be hard to find good friends, that would be my concern.

4seasons wrote:

Columbus

Lots of beer, good arts, low traffic, lots of running paths and tracks

Lol low traffic

Two used syringes along the side of the road on my run last night, no need to tell you where because you have lots of better choices.

TomorrowLand wrote:

Leave the patriots & come to the Seahawks!

Seattle is the place to be.

-friendly community, weekly track & road races.

-Not gonna lie it rains a tad bit during the fall & winter. Spring & summer are perfect avg. 50°+.

-Neighboring communities near Seattle are highly affordable.

-They may call Oregon tracktown but to be honest they have nothing on WA.

How in the world is Seattle considered warm or affordable? I read an article the other day about how ridiculously expensive it is.

They median house price is over 500k.

Absurd.

Plus 226 days a year of cloud cover.

marathonnancy wrote:

Tallahassee FL. Very reasonable cost of living, fantastic running community, lots of trails and good road running as well. Hilly downtown & to the north, flat to the south so you have your choice. Shady large trees, we do a get seasons here unlike the rest of FL. Summers are pretty beastly but you adjust and just go out early in the morning. ZAP Fitness does their winter training here. This is a runner's paradise. Lots of friendly people :) Come here!!

Thank you all so much for the input. Tallahassee, Seattle and Flagstaff all sound awesome (especially the running communities) and may be exactly what I'm looking for. I'd be all over Cali but that state has a lot of issues right now.

As far as Boston girls go (since that's been brought up a few times), it's a great city to meet girls if you're in college. Just from sheer volume you'll meet tons of girls (it's a crazy stat, something like 25% of Boston's population during the school year is girls 18-24). The problem is what happens when you graduate. You find yourself going on the same dates with the same types of girls because that's all Boston has to offer. Even girls in their late 20s still act like they're 19 years old, living in rathole apartments in the slums of Allston and Brighton while working at joke upstarts and nonprofits. After a while, you get sick of hearing "I'm a foodie who loves to travel, and if you have a dog, we will be best friends!" Maybe the grass isn't greener on the other side, but it sure will be less predictable and annoying.

Yes, Seattle weather is nothing but depressing...

BUT, they are an up and coming sports city..

They were down for awhile but they are coming back!

I saw Nashville listed too....

Same thing there..YOUNG people everywhere who like to run and like the NHL...

And Seattle is going to get a team..

I live in the WORST sports city in the WORLD...

Phoenix Arizona.

Don't even wanna talk about it.

When I was your age, I left the East Coast for Orange County, CA. Thought it was a 2-3 year experiment. 20 years later, here I am. Fabulous weather, many natural wonders of the country within a days drive, great running opportunities. San Diego and San Fran are similar. It is expensive.

I'd avoid the midwest like the black plague. Land locked, narrow minded people, harsh winters and you'll never find a thin girl.

Some other places I have been that I enjoyed enough to consider living:

Asheville, NC - trails, history, decent running community.

Richmond, VA - Smaller than Boston, less college influence, but good history, trails, running community. Affordable.

Colorado front range (C.Springs, Boulder, Fort Collins, Denver). Lots of sunny days, great running.

Santa Fe, NM - Albuquerque close by, but would not live there. Lots of running opportunity.

I don't think he made it seem like that at all. The OP was very clear that he/she had a job.

Been There 2 wrote:

You make it sound like leaving Boston is a huge step and that you don't have a job. Then just go somewhere. Go back home. And you're too young to worry about cold weather,high cost of living, traffic, townie ugliness. Admit it the hot babes are keeping you there, a never ending resupply. All right, all right, all right!

You're so superior to everyone else I doubt you'll be happy anywhere.

Well I can tell you one place to NOT go: Stay the **** away from the DC area.

I've lived here since February and already can't wait to leave. The area - meaning the city itself and Arlington - is only less expensive than Manhattan I believe. The weather though, is the worst that I've ever seen - if you like 90 degrees every day with a heat/humidity index of 100+ (it was 106 yesterday), then by ALL means move down here! And the city itself is just a gigantic tourist trap. The traffic is significantly worse throughout this entire area than you would see in nearly any other metropolitan area, and their mass transit system is terrible.

On the plus side, you do have Rock Creek Park and the towpath in Georgetown which are great for running, the National Mall is very overrated for running.

Dallas has a strong running community and lots of trails around. The race calendar is full year round; from September through May there's usually several good races from 5k-half marathon every single weekend. The races get a little more sparse in the summer but you can still find something every single weekend. Some weekends there's multiple half marathons. And there's at least 4 local marathons every year: Dallas (used to be called White Rock), Cowtown in Fort Worth, Fort Worth (smaller than Cowtown), Irving.

There's an International accessible airport. And Love Field for Southwest flights.

We have relatively low cost of living, with no state income tax. They make up for it some by charging high property and sales tax rates though.

It's warm most of the year, though we can have some ice in the winter.

It's true it gets hot in the summer. After initially hating hot weather training I've figured out that it gives me a HUGE advantage going into fall marathon season. I've just had to learn not to panic every June when my training paces slow to what feels like a snail's pace.

If you want a smaller town go to Ashville. For a city, consider Charlotte or Raleigh. Humidity is rough but tolerable in the summer and both have great running communities

You might just be dating the wrong people. Boston is one of the nation's biggest healthcare/medical hubs. Are you telling me that all of the skilled professionals involved in this industry (MDs, DOs, PAs, research Ph.Ds, etc.) are a bunch of vapid twits? Same with the young professionals in the city's financial industry? And the same schools that bring in hoards of 18-22-year-olds also bring in grad students from all over the world.

Whatever problems Boston might have, its most prominent industries all involve highly educated labor. In a city where nearly 20% of residents have graduate degrees, it shouldn't be too hard to find a handful of women to date who are smart and earn decent salaries.